Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
What if...they didn't put the speed bumps back
As you probably know. Warham has been one of the roads closed for resurfacing this week.
The quiet and carlessness has been a treat, made all the better as far as my three year is concerned by the diggers and lorries that make periodic trips up and down the road. .
Yesterday, my neighbour who has lived on Warham for 20 years came to the garden gate for a chat. He mentioned how since they put the speed bump outside his house, he has noticed the plaster cracking in his house and the increased noise of cars/lorries going over the bump. He fervently wished they would not put the bump back.
So what if they didn't put the bumps back. Would we miss them?
The quiet and carlessness has been a treat, made all the better as far as my three year is concerned by the diggers and lorries that make periodic trips up and down the road. .
Yesterday, my neighbour who has lived on Warham for 20 years came to the garden gate for a chat. He mentioned how since they put the speed bump outside his house, he has noticed the plaster cracking in his house and the increased noise of cars/lorries going over the bump. He fervently wished they would not put the bump back.
So what if they didn't put the bumps back. Would we miss them?
Tags for Forum Posts: Ladder traffic solutions, Wightman Road, speed humps
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Not necessarily John. If motorists want to head north on Wightman, a left-turn only out of Salisbury Road would encourage them to route via Harringay Road. And if this is done as part of the sort of scheme I've outlined above (and it should only be done as part of a wider Ladder scheme) you'd then get three roads sharing the burden that Warham now carries alone.
By the by, I suggested the three-up, three-down scheme to Cllr Brian Haley (as cabinet member responsible for traffic) a couple of years ago. He thought it was a good idea. Then I bumped into him in the Haringey parking office, asked him what progress and he told me he'd discussed it with a colleague (can't remember who). Apparently the colleague's reply was "What are we trying to do, make life easier for the motorist?" which Cllr Haley thought was a winning argument against the suggested scheme. I never understood the logic there, but at any rate it halted any further consideration of the idea.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Until the traffic from those three roads hits Wightman.
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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John: "What we need is less traffic."
Or what we need is different traffic? Isn't most of the problem with speed bumps to do with large lorries going over them? So have we exhausted all possible ways of reducing this? (I know John has devoted large chunks of his life to this very issue, but is there nothing more to be done given that they (when combined with speed humps) do most of the damage? I know some large vehicles need access to the ladder roads (eg rubbish lorries) but do any others? Could the entrances be narrowed to restrict access?
Just a thought..
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It might make sense as part of a wider change Russell, but experience seems to tell us you can't just make changes to a single road.
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Permalink Reply by Adam on
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I just want to add my support to Mr. Burdekin's well thought out and rational arguments.
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Permalink Reply by DavidJ on
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Sorry if I have missed something, but does anyone know whether we are going to get the bumps (or some alternative calming!) put back very soon? Walking up to NHP today I was really struck by how very dangerous the situation is at the moment - particularly for children walking to school. It was a real shock for me to have a van go past me at perhaps 50 mph as I was trying to cross at the passageway. I am used to much slower traffic and nearly totally misjudged it. I really worry that a child walking to school could get it horribly wrong.
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I was just about to post exactly the same thing. As David says, it comes as a real shock to realise that some eejit is approaching you at 40 mph. The inconsistency isn't ideal at all.
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Did you get the registration number of the van????
Honestly, it's no good getting on here, these people are doing more than DOUBLE the speed limit.
You can report these people here.
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Permalink Reply by Jess Whittingham on
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I think we should go with the chicanes, great idea!! It would make the ladder very pretty and slow us all down with damaging out cars - I'm sure my car has been damaged by going over speed bumps - yes maybe too fast, chicanes would definetly slow me down and be much nicer for all residents.
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Permalink Reply by dan burgess on
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chicanes, narrowing the road at the bumps to really slow things (and reduce plaster cracking in the home) and signs of human-ness - raised plant beds, signs created by the kids, paintings on the tarmac etc...
at the moment we have slick, one way, tarmac - makes people in their steel bubbles put their foot down.
let's make the roads feel like people live on them, that people are the dominant idea not cars.
not stopping cars from getting through, but lets make the car play by the rules of the people, slow, considered, concentrate. it's not rocket science and it doesn't have to cost a lot. And the lunacy of it all is that driving slowly down a residential street makes no difference at all to your overall journey when you factor in traffic lights and congestion etc, its all a myth.
The speed that vehicles are flying down some of the ladder roads at the moment is off the scale at times. Let's sort it out.
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Permalink Reply by stuart grieve on
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Humps are necessary because before they were replaced quite a lot of cars were speeding. As for a two way system you need only remember the accidents that used to happen, certainly here on Beresford Road.
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I have lived in Pemberton for just over 10 years. I campaigned for speed control measures and was very glad when they were implemented. I didn't care what measures were implemented as long as they rigorously met certain criteria. The criteria are simple: it must be the case that whatever measures are employed make it totally obvious to the driver of the vehicle that if he/she ignores them serious damage will result to their vehicle if not their actual physical wellbeing. Actually, threat of damage to the vehicle seems to be the number one concern of car drivers. There is little or no grey area in this debate, here's the truth from experience:
1.) With 2-way traffic, the speed of vehicles will be reduced wherever they come across a vehicle coming the other way. However, because the Ladder roads are straight, a car driver at one end can usually see all the way to the other. No visible oncoming vehicle will result in a driver who is prone to speeding hitting the accelerator as hard as they can. In fact they will tend to go even faster, to try to get down the whole road before something does come the other way. The Ladder roads are long enough that a good speed can be built up. Without testing I'd say at least 50mph could be achieved. It was appalling how fast drivers used to go. I'm sure lots of people on this site can tell us all kinds of statistics about what happens to the body of a 5 year old child when it gets hit by a vehicle travelling at 50mph.
2.) When 2 vehicles travelling in opposite directions meet, and one or both of the drivers are ignorant, stupid people (a depressingly high proportion of the driving population from my clear memory), vociferous, obscene argument, or worse, will result.
Worse, when the problem is caused by only one of the parties (invariably but not always a male driver), the result is intimidation, threats and quite probably the risk of physical attack to the other party. This clearly is a bigger problem for female, elderly, or just peacable meek minded people, but after all, nobody enjoys the aggro. In fact (and I'm talking 10 years ago now, before somebody shops me to Inspector Knacker), I got so tired of seeing these kinds of people being abused and intimidated outside my house that I used to keep a lump of wood inside my front door in case anybody was actually ever physically attacked. Not to attack the offending driver I'll hasten to add, but I reckoned setting about their vehicle with gusto would be quite effective in getting them to stop. Fortunately I never had to, but I did intervene verbally on several occasions.
3.) I am a home owner and I live near a speed bump. I get cracks in my plaster. Yes, it does create a lot of noise and my house shakes when vehicles go over it. When large trucks go over it I sometimes think we must be suffering an earthquake.
I can see some solutions to this problem such as looking at alternative measures (BUT THEY MUST MEET THE MINIMUM CRITERIA - SEE ABOVE), and/or applying restrictions to stop larger vehicles using the road.
So, would I go back to flat roads, 2-way or not? Well, that's easy, the real question is whether I would trade my cracked plaster for 1 or more dead or maimed child. Err.....I guess that's a "no" then. Could we do better than humps? Sure, as long as whatever is done is effective. I have no issue with looking at alternatives.
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